Confectioner's Sugar
by Miss Chocolat
Summary: Baker Sakura can't help but hand out cupcakes to the unfortunate and depressed. Sakuharem, AU
1. Emo

Summary: Baker Sakura can't help but hand out cupcakes to the unfortunate and depressed. Sakuharem

Rating: T

Word Count: 3620

Page Count: 7

Musical Inspiration: Various happy tracks, bpm (VOCALOID: Hatsune Miku), Minna Daisuki (Artist: Buono)

Notes: After eating one of my home-made delicious brownies, I came up with this idea from a sugar rush. Plus, I'm good friends (I'd like to think) with Vesper chan, who writes slammin' high school fics… And being that I haven't had a school fic yet and wanted to join the bandwagon, this story had been born. YES.

O

~~Confectioner's Sugar

~~~~Chapter One

~~~~~~Cupcake for the Emo

O

If anything could match what love and caring is, it might just well be a cupcake.

Sure, a cake is large, boisterous, and packed with flavors all around; chocolate is sensual and rich, and brownies are cute and soft with the little chocolate chip surprises hiding deep inside, but the cupcake defines love better than them all. Cupcakes are smaller than the machismo cake and more feminine, with the cute frosting on top and occasionally the surprising filling or fudge or whipped cream hidden inside, and topped with little sprinkles of joy. Love's not something to be so largely expressed as a cake, and it's not all about being drowned in its flavor or aroma. The cupcake is small and expresses the feeling of being homemade, precious to the heart but not in that suffocating way; the sprinkles dotting the top like little kisses of a blooming relationship.

If anyone believed this truth to be truer than life itself, it was a little baker girl named Sakura, who always handed out her cupcakes to those in need, feeling that love was for everyone and that she could love anyone and everyone.

However, some of the lucky people that received her baked cups of love wanted her love all to themselves…

O

"So, I have blueberry, cherry swirl, lemonade, pineapple upside down cake," Sakura listed off, looking into her second bag, an unbelievably cute wicker basket that had rainbow ribbons weaving all throughout it and bowing at the base of the handle, "red fudge, and the Delighted Toad special! What a selection!" Smiling at the colorful array of baked good resting in the basket, she shut the lid and hefted her schoolbag higher onto her shoulder, careful not to jostle the sweets. Sakura was alone on the sidewalk that led to her high school, Konoha High (cleverly named after the town itself). Not that she minded—silence was a rare thing in her young life, something to be cherished. Besides, she thought of her best recipes when it was quiet!

This was Haruno Sakura, Konoha's very own piece of sunshine, famous for her cupcake gifts and good nature. She was the equivalent of the sun shining in the sky, raining down joy and happiness upon those who basked in her presence. The pinkette (naturally) loved everyone and everything that she came across, and in return everyone loved her back. She was even allowed to wear an apron above her uniform, since she seemed to get messy all the time, no matter where she was or what she was doing.

(That was a big problem—Sakura tended to be unnaturally clumsy for a person that used her hands all the time.)

The white expanse of a campus that was Konoha High appeared before her, beckoning her to begin another day filled with knowledge. The girl loved to learn everything she could about anything, as her childhood companion was books, before confections came into play. It was one of her side hobbies to baking, and since it didn't hinder her perfection of the art of cake making, her parents fully encouraged it.

"Good morning!" she greeted to fellow students as she walked onto campus, lifting her basket a little higher on her arm. A few greeted back and a few ignored her, but she passed by happily. Her good mood could never be broken, not by anything. In fact, she was contagious, and brightened up any room she entered. Many wondered, "How can someone just be so _happy_?" Sakura only answered that, if there was no reason to be sad, why not be cheerful?

Besides, most agreed, it was probably the mass amount of sugar she digested every day that kept her going.

That statement led to one of her well known names: the Sugar Girl. Sure, it was lame, but there was rarely a time when anyone saw the pinkette without some type of delectable sweet. And, if it wasn't her aptitude for sugar that had her name circulating around the halls, it was her reputation of giving cupcakes to the most depressed, dangerous people she could find anywhere, and coming back unscathed, still as cheerful as ever.

"Today's going to be a great day!" Sakura announced to no one in particular, closing her locker to proceed to first period, basket of goodies still on arm.

Little did she know, her reputation was about to increase a few notches, thanks to the one and only Prince of Konoha High.

O

"Have you found anyone yet, Neji?" Sakura asked, prodding her best friend with a small elbow. The brunette shook his head negatively, provoking the pinkette to sigh. "There seems to be a lot of happy people, nowadays," she mused, nibbling on a cookie that had been dredged up from the deep recesses of her basket. "It's great people are enjoying themselves, but I feel bored, not having anyone to imprint my happiness onto!" The Hyuuga looked at her questionably, copying her actions to retrieve another cookie.

Their story was old and long, but their bond was made of iron and steel, and with the 'toughest freaking thickener I have,' Sakura described. Recently, due to his affiliation with those of the more depressed sort (old, old friendships that took backseats when Sakura was introduced to him), Sakura used his resources and connections to find those in need of a "good cupcake." Those in need of cupcakes were really the most down-on-their-luck people he could name.

"I have a feeling you'll find one soon," Neji offered, turning the chocolate chip cookie over in his fingers. "Besides, you attract those kinds of people with your happy magnetism." Sakura giggled and roughly pushed the hand holding Neji's cookie into his kisser, making him gag briefly.

"Just like you?" Smiling amiably, she stood up, stretching for a moment, and then grabbed the wicker basket. It was lunch hour for the both of them, so they were free to do whatever they wanted, as long as it wasn't illegal or off campus. Only seniors could go off campus with the people they brought along. "I think I'll go take a nice walk. You can come if you like." The taller boy shook his head again, standing alongside his long time friend.

"I have to go and speak with a teacher about a project," Neji explained, his normally stoic face broken by tiredness. "My... _ Partner_ can't calm down enough around me to work properly." Sakura thought it over for a second, before a light bulb turned on above her head.

She slyly looked up to the taller person and said with understanding, "You got Lee again, huh?" By the face Neji made at the comment, she knew that she had got it on the bull's eye. "I'm sure you'll do fine," she said, comforting. She turned to leave, but Sakura smirked and added, "Just tell him his beautiful blossom wants to see a wonderful project." Irritation was the next expression across Neji's face—he hated when Lee would come up and act so informally around _his_ friend, but Sakura could take care of herself, and easily diverted the green beast to another topic that wasn't as girlfriend-related.

"See you later," the brunette sighed, making his way to the school. Sakura watched him for a moment, and giggled to herself.

She wondered if Neji noticed that cookie crumb on his cheek...

O

Sakura cheerfully strode along the school's garden path, carefully grown and maintained by the Botany Club. Appreciating each bloom as she passed, the pinkette slowly reached the lake at the end of the path. The high school was big, yes, but a lot of that size had to be attributed to the vastness of the school's nature area. The builders had chosen to preserve the forest instead of mowing it down, and built the school upwards. The farther parts of the ground were too wooded to really venture out into without tougher clothes, but the areas closest to the school had been carefully tendered into a beautiful, flowered pathway that started at the greenhouse of the school and ended at the school's pond. The science classes often went out to examine the lake for animals and natural forces, but it was mainly left as a romantic place for confessions or get-togethers. (No one could argue, either—who didn't think that a pond filled with fish, surrounded by flowers and sakura trees _wasn't_ romantic?)

And for that reason, Sakura found it strange the Uchiha Sasuke, the official "Prince" of Konoha High (as proclaimed at last year's Prom, even though he was a freshman then and technically unable to be crowned) was sitting alone by that very same pond, staring into the waters in a very brooding manner.

Sakura's eyes glinted in the way a cat found a corned mouse—she had just found today's cupcake recipient. If she had been forced to admit who she thought was the most _miserable_, _depressed_, and _morbid_ student attending Konoha High, she would have to be forced to say "Uchiha Sasuke." She didn't exactly know his back story, but she knew he was a big, cold jerk to all the other students, except for a few kids, like Uzumaki Naruto.

'If there wasn't a person more in need!' Sakura sang in her mind, quietly scuttling to a few paces behind the boy. He hadn't noticed her yet, so she assumed he was simply too deep in thought to sense her presence. That gave her a chance to examine him a little—he was so often surrounded by fangirls that she never got a chance to actually _see_ him—and she realized why so many girls flocked to him. Sasuke was very handsome, and had that "tall and dark" air about him that made all the girls melt into helpless puddles. She couldn't say he struck her as a shining knight type of person, but she could say he was that sexy bishounen in all the anime she watched; the bishounen for whatever reason, was a magnet for traumatic pasts, power, and girls.

'He's probably upset about his life or something,' she thought, holding her chin in her fingers. 'Maybe he's upset about fangirls, or maybe he got a bad grade?' A second later, she threw those options away. 'He never seems affected by those girls, and I've never heard of him being anything less that perfect academically... Maybe his family?' She knew that Sasuke had bad blood with his brother (who didn't know that?) and he was the second son of the head of Uchiha Corps, one of the biggest police enforcement and weaponry forced in Japan. Could his family be riding him hard about being a successful student so that he could graduate into an above excellent college, and one day take the company alongside his brother?

'Whatever the reason is, he's not getting any happier by me standing and thinking of random reasons!' And with that, Sakura silently sat alongside the brooding male, her legs stretched out, and her wicker basket of goodness set on her lap. Sasuke jumped at the noise, jerking his head to the girl, who calmly smiled back, her eyes never losing that sparkle.

'Oh, no, a fangirl,' Sasuke sighed, falling back into a cooler position. 'She's probably here to ask me on a date or a picnic.' The latter statement was added when he noticed her insanely girly wicker basket, latched closed. The black haired boy narrowed his eyes at the basket, and looked up to glare at the girl's smiling face. The grin didn't falter a bit, and that discouraged him unbelievably. That was his main fangirl-thwarting technique, and if she had no reaction to the glare, then she must be a different class of fangirl, or something else. 'Psycho fangirl,' flitted across his mind for a split second, and he found himself backing up that claim. She wouldn't stop smiling—she hadn't stopped since she plopped down.

"Uchiha Sasuke-san," Sakura began brightly, filling the air with a happiness that Sasuke found suffocating. He was so not used to human contact. "I have noticed that you're particularly broody, dark, silent, and melancholic..." Oh, no, he was right—she was a psycho _stalker_ fangirl! "...Which is no way for a boy as young as you to be acting, so I have brought it upon myself to bring your spirits up with nothing else but..."

Sasuke flinched and prepared for some type of syringe, ready for a potential kidnapping...

"...A delicious cupcake!"

His defense shattered and Sasuke found himself staring at the now definitely psychotic girl. Sakura paid no attention to his broken composure, and fished in her basket for the perfect treat just for him. "My name's Sakura, by the way," she chirped, gleefully roving her eyes over her current selection, "since taking a cupcake from a stranger is kind of weird." Her hands settled for the last cupcake in the basket, and finding it an acceptable choice, Sakura plucked it out from the basket and presented it to the still flabbergasted boy. "For you!"

In her hand sat the cutest cupcake he had ever seen—the cake part was yellow, and the icing was green. Black icing had been used by a careful hand to create a frog face, and two circular red sprinkles put a blush on the frog. Sasuke stared at the girl, who was still waiting for him to take it out of her dainty hands.

Suddenly, his defense was back up, and in a tough voice informed, "I don't like sweets."

Sakura's world stopped for a long moment. He did _not_ just say that. Someone not liking sweets? Impossible! While Sakura was having her little breakdown, Sasuke became wary. The glint in the girl's eyes turned crazed for a moment and her smile faltered, but suddenly they snapped back to normal, like it had never happened.

"Oh, it doesn't matter!" Sakura chirped,a little more forced than she had been speaking previously, Sasuke noticed. The pinkette forcibly plopped the frog cupcake into the boy's hands, careful not to smear her carefully crafted frog face. "Now, enjoy it and be happy!"

"I just told you, I don't like sweets," Sasuke repeated, angrily. "Stop being so annoying." The smile didn't falter like the first time he mentioned his dislike for sweets, but it did stretch a little more. The Uchiha stared down at the frog cupcake, and saw it as more of a Naruto thing. Sakura shook her head, standing up and brushing off her pants. "Besides," Sasuke muttered suspiciously, "it could be poisoned." Sakura froze for a moment, and Sasuke smirked, figuring he had her caught, but he was forced to drop the expression when she began to laugh.

"I know you're wary of crazy fangirls, but, really, a poisoned _cupcake_?" Sakura bit on her fingers in an attempt to muffle her amusement. She giggled a few more times, Sasuke watching her all the while, and calmed down. Her smile was gentler now than her initial one had been. (Her psycho smile, Sasuke whispered mentally.) "You know," Sakura started, gazing off to the water, her reflection wavering in the pool, "I would sit around like you do now. A long time ago, I'd just run away from my problems and sit somewhere to contemplate my life." Scuffling the toe of her right brown shoe, Sakura continued, "I would spend hours like that, every day. After awhile, it became habitual, and I found that I couldn't stop feeling sad for myself or angry at the situation I had gotten into that time."

Sasuke huffed and looked out to the lake as well, musing over her words. Somehow, he felt like he was relating to her. He turned the green confection around in his fingers, watching the frog face rotate. Yes, he did come out here often to wonder about his position, but he had good reason to—he would never get out of his brother's shadow; he'd never get his father's respect, and he'd surely never take the place as the head owner of Uchiha Corps. What else could he do, since there was no way to fix the problem without taking out Itachi?

"Then one day," Sakura spoke up again, now looking determinedly at her companion, "I realized how much time I was wasting by just sitting there. The problems around me were getting worse and worse, and all I was doing to affect them was coasting along with them, but acting like I hated them.

"I felt horrible that I was letting situations run my life, and I wasn't doing anything to stop it—I realized that I couldn't spend my precious time moping around, wondering 'Why me?' No, I had to go out and find out why exactly it was me in the first place." Reaching down, Sakura plucked her basket off the ground and settled it in the bend of her arm. Sasuke watched her, a feeling he couldn't place blossoming in his chest. "I realized, Sasuke," she was speaking directly to him to emphasize her point, "that the reason it was me was because I wasn't doing anything at all to make it _not _me. Until that time, I had simply accepted that it was all me, and that I was to be pitied and had to brood. That was the completely wrong way to go about it, you know." 'Or don't,' she added mentally, given his position.

"So what did you do then?" the boy asked after a moment of silence. Sakura smiled, having waited for that question to arise.

"I started fighting against my problems. Instead of just letting myself flow to their current, I kicked and punched and bit and everything you could think of. I made it so that it couldn't be me, essentially. If I failed a test, I didn't mourn over my failure, I hit the books and studied harder, so that when we had another test, it wouldn't be me again that failed." Turning away from Sasuke, Sakura sent one last smile. "I tackled life head on, Sasuke. I smiled through everything I could, and I realized it was harder to smile and fight than to sit and whine, but my benefits from being so strong let me do things like perfect the perfect frog cupcake, or gather up the nerve to stalk right up to Konoha High's Prince Sasuke, and accuse of him of being emo in hopes it would help bring him out of his rut." Walking away at a leisurely pace, she ended her speech with a simple, "I hope that you learn how you can fight too, Sasuke!"

Sasuke stood, amazed, and stared at the frog cupcake in his pale hand. Then he smirked and muttered, "Annoying," before taking a small bite out of the frog cupcake. He couldn't just simply walk around with a frog cupcake all day, could he now...

...And "psycho fangirl" or not, Sakura made a good cupcake.

O

The next day, when each classroom received their copies of the Konoha High Times, they'd see the front page news story: "Uchiha Sasuke, Prince of Konoha High, visited by the famous Cupcake Queen, Sakura Haruno," with a picture of Sasuke holding the cupcake, watching as Sakura walked away, cutely decorated wicker basket on her arm.

O

UFU. You see, everyone? I'm not dead, just trying to survive a major writer's block and attempting to not eat so many sweets.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, I WROTE SASUSAKU. INSANITY, I KNOW. I have no idea if he's canon or not—I'm pretty sure Sakura's a bit OOC, as well as Neji, but oh well. I haven't found many high school fics that _are_ in character, anyway. I feel like I've done a decent job.

Yeah, Sasuke's family isn't dead. I think it's stupid in most modern-day AU fics for Sasuke's family to have been brutally murdered single-handedly by Itachi. Seriously—big family, phones and a number called _911_, guns, and video cameras? Not to mention they're a police family, which makes me believe that it's just bad plotting.

Anyways... It looks really nice as a oneshot, but as you all know, I'm no good at oneshots, so you get chapters. OF THIS AWESOMENESS. It's your lucky day!

By the way... **dedicated to Vesper chan, 'cause she makes me cry and giggle too much when I read.** WHY. WHY WITH THE PETER PAN STORY, VESPY?

Sakura's monologue is so long. But I had to do it! It's like the first episode of an anime—gotta have some long, speech that proves the main character is awesome. (Prove me I'm wrong. Tell me an anime that doesn't have a pilot episode to make the main character look like some cool cucumber.)

Also, I'm working on Kakurenbo. I am, promise. I'm just stuck.

STUCK LIKE A BUG IN HONEY.


	2. Insomniac

Summary: Baker Sakura can't help but hand out cupcakes to the unfortunate and depressed. Sakuharem

Rating: T

Word Count: 4017

Page Count: 10

Musical Inspiration: Kakakata Kataomoi-C (Artist: Hyadain), Eurovision (ESC 2010-2011), Vocaloid as always

Notes: YEAH! Updates! YEAR-LONG ABSENCES! SUSPENCE! What more could you ask for? Cupcakes? Did I hear CUPCAKES! WELL TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!

O

~~Confectioner's Sugar

~~~~Chapter Two

~~~~~~Cupcake for the Insomniac

O

Morning came right on time for Konoha's most beloved baker, who arose from her rejuvenating slumber with a long stretch. Her trademark smile formed itself as Sakura slid out of bed and prepped for the day. Bright and aware, the pinkette looked around her room, seeing the brown and pink schemed furniture the same as ever and some clothes tossed on the floor from yesterday. She would clean those up after school.

Ooh yes, school! It was without saying that one of her favorite times of day was getting ready for her trek to Konoha High. The peaceful hour of her day presented her with a chance to think of all the good things she could do today. Speaking of good things, Sakura thought while she smoothed her uniform's shirt, yesterday went ridiculously well. She had finally managed to (hopefully! Her fingers were crossed) cheer up the lump known as Uchiha Sasuke. He had been a target of hers for some time, but seemed so untouchable. Well, that might have been the fault of his impenetrable fangirl-wall, but she digressed. As she gathered her homework and snapped her bookcase shut, the baker sincerely wished for today to be as lucky as the last.

Passing through her family's large kitchen specialized for their profession, suddenly Sakura halted mid-step and gasped. She almost forgot her cupcake basket! Scrambling, the cheerful sweetheart rushed into the kitchen where her adorable wicker container of happiness sat innocently on the island. Sakura peeked in quickly, checking to ensure all the cute little cupcakes she prepared last night were accounted for. Today's medley of delectables consisted of a China inspired array, such as Green Tea, Bamboo Forest, crimson colored velvet cakes, and her favorite so far, the Great Panda who Dines Upon the Peaceful Bamboo Leaves in the New Spring.

Well, she officially named it the Great Panda cupcake, but she was still trying to convince her parents to accept the poetic title.

Pleased with what she saw, Sakura patted her bags and expertly balanced them on separate arms, heading out the door and to a new day of discoveries.

O

Alone on the roof, a red headed student sat and watched the other Konoha High attendees converse jovially with friends and greet each other. He scoffed at them, glaring down with hatred in his jade eyes. The thick rings around his eyes bent as they narrowed, hairless eyebrows shifting down in an expression of distaste. People were too noisy in the mornings, greeting each other and making a commotion. Who needed companionship this early? Or even at all?

Gaara harshly snorted at the thought of him being surrounded by such idiots. He would be forever alone, and that was just the way he liked it, because alone meant silent, around him and inside his head.

The bell beeped over the PA system over the campus, alerting the students of their dwindling hall time. The boy moved not an inch however, fixated on watching the people pass below. He smirked as the last few stragglers dashed into the gates before they closed, concentrating on a pink haired girl who tried to balance two packages at the same time briefly. The second flew by quickly, and his attention was caught by the metallic clang of the gates electronically closing. Scanning the nearly empty courtyard, Gaara was put off to find that the pink girl had gone missing.

Settling back in a laying position, the dark student contemplated skipping his first few periods to enjoy the silence. He would experience the lack of bustling teenagers to its fullest.

O

Sakura's hand flew across her paper, copying down the notes projected from the overhead. Kakashi-sensei, her eccentric literature teacher, drawled through his prepared lectures, leaning against his white board. He didn't even attempt to make any effort at all, reciting straight off the paper. At some points he would sigh and pause as if thinking of something to add, but ended up simply shrugging and continuing reading.

While Konoha High generally held itself in high esteem with equally high rules, Kakashi somehow escaped the strict fist of Tsunade-sama and wore a navy scarf around his face in lieu of a tie. No student had seen his elusive face, and it was only a matter of time before rumors circulated. Was he ugly? Deformed? Shy? Regardless of the reason, it was known throughout school that he who attempted to remove Kakashi's cover suffered something horrible, and never recovered from the trauma.

As the man began to point out an important tip in monotone, the classroom door shoved open, revealing one irritable Gaara with his hands in his pockets. Kakashi quirked an eyebrow at the boy, shifting his stance to rest a hand on his neck. "Sabaku no Gaara-san," he named, drawing out the honorific like a dramatic theater imitation, yet still remaining in a single tone, "who do you think you are, walking into my exciting literature class and interrupting the learning of my precious students?" The tardy student reacted to his teacher's prodding with a stare, not bothering to answer Kakashi as he stalked to his chair at the back of the class.

Sakura eyed him curiously as Gaara moved. Briefly, jade and emerald met, and shared a look of recognition. Gaara's eyes remained empty as he recalled the pink haired girl from the morning, wondering how he never realized someone with such a unique hair color was in his class. Annoyed when she didn't look away, he glared and continued down the row. Sakura followed him, thinking on a completely different path than Gaara.

She had just found today's cupcake recipient.

O

Fourth hour let out, and Gaara successfully used the rushing students to escape from Kakashi's disciplinary clutches. The school worked on a unique schedule where the day worked in nine periods, the fifth a lunch hour for all students and teachers, and the lunch rush a daily occurrence. It was essentially a free period for everyone.

Sakura shot up, careful to keep her wicker basket steady, and wiggled through the crowd to hawk Gaara's movements. She left her schoolbag in her classroom as every student did, but carried her cupcake carrier at all times. Sneaky like a ninja, the pinkette peered around corners, hid behind lockers, and slid across walls. She did a great job of it even if she caused a scene, since Gaara had yet to notice her presence tailing him. So far, Sakura saw nothing but further evidence to support her Gaara-needs-a-cupcake case. No one had reached out to greet him in the halls; in fact, she noticed that students actually shied _away_ from him, some of the smaller ones even scuttling away out of his path. In a similar fashion to Moses and the Red Sea, Gaara parted the waves of students.

'So he's a lonely, intimidating, and downright frightening to the other students,' Sakura thought, organizing her findings. Pressed against the wall, she couldn't help but overhear a duo of gossiping girls whisper behind their hands about Gaara's supposed criminal history, and his shady family background. Grinning, not about the fact Gaara was covered in rumors and mysteries and everyone disliked him, but for the reason that there was another thing she could help the boy with, Sakura mentally added to her list, 'volatile, too!'

Distracted by her victory, Sakura barely noticed Gaara slip around the corner and into the stairwell, and begin to quickly ascend the many flights. She hurriedly jogged to catch up, trying to not jostle her basket and not give her position away. Step by step, the baker matched Gaara's speed, attempting to disguise her footfalls by using his heavy ones. The basket held to her chest squeaked as the wicker rubbed against itself, proving to be a worrisome, yet essential hindrance. She couldn't mope about the potentially mission-thwarting item, though, as Gaara began to slow down his climbing. Confused, Sakura watched from a lower flight as the red head bent under a chain barrier, realizing that he had led her to the roof.

'Why would he need to go to the roof?' she wondered, watching him open the metal door without a creak, as if he did it often. Students weren't allowed on the highest floor, and needed teacher permission to do anything up there. It made sense why he was so silent about the ordeal, but the question was the reason. Slowly, the roof door closed, and Sakura waited to go out there herself. Counting to ten, she imitated the technique Gaara used, twisting the knob fully before pulling the door. Mindful of the boy she was effectively stalking, the girl scooted her basket through the doorway first, and then followed with her body. Keeping the knob turned, she soothed the metal door closed before gently releasing the knob. Without meaning to, her sweaty palm lost grip, and the door clicked shut much louder than meant to. Gasping in a breath, Sakura looked back marginally, crouching to hide her being from Gaara's awareness. A moment passed before she felt safe again enough to creep toward where she thought her target was.

The roof was a pretty plain area, with various vent ducts and air conditioning generators poking out of the floor and bending back into a different section. It gave her plenty of hiding places, thankfully. Other than those few features, the roof remained empty and without a gate around much of the edge. While half of it was barricaded, the fence was still a work in progress, leaving the roof a potentially dangerous area.

'Probably why it's off-limits,' Sakura connected. Hopefully this area would be open to the other students, she wished, relishing the rather calming view. Shaking her head to clear her brain of trivial details, the pinkette refocused on her task. Leaning around the vent, she rejoiced to see Gaara in a relaxed position, resting in the bright sun. Watching him from this angle, although, made her feel for a moment that he didn't need her meddling, and was perfectly content to revel in the silent companionship of the sky.

But meddling was her business, other than baking, and Sakura was resolved to improve Gaara's attitude at least. She didn't have to make him get friends, but at least make him more approachable. Feeling a determined resolve take root in her heart, Sakura switched knees to get in a more comfortable position.

Unfortunately, that was the worst movement she would have chosen to do at all.

The unmistakeable sound of bone hitting metal rang throughout the open space of the roof as Sakura bent down to cradle her bruised knee and hide from Gaara. Said boy jumped up at the sound, surveying the seemingly empty roof with narrow eyes. Trying to keep her whimpers at a minimum, Sakura couldn't help rocking to ease the pain. This let Gaara see the tiniest slip of pink in the completely gray area.

"I see you!" he angrily shouted, crossing his arms but not bothering to stand. "Get out from over there, pink haired girl!" Gaara scrutinized Sakura's every movement as she revealed herself guiltily. He noticed the red mark her knee sported, instantly picking out the cause of the sound. He didn't feel anything about her pain other than annoyance, and turned back to gaze over the courtyard. His somewhat good mood had just exploded into a million little pieces, thanks to this pest.

Sheepishly, Sakura ambled to Gaara's side, settling down next to him. So used to the glare he directed at her, she ignored it and situated her basket in front of her. Okay, so her cover was blown, but at least she could openly observe him now. She gazed at him, unsurprised to meet his cold eyes once again. Taking the chance, she took in his appearance: red hair that she found to be a shade closer to bricks than the blood color most people associated it with, jade green eyes which pierced into your very existence, suntanned skin, and a loose uniform nowhere near the dress code standards Konoha High maintained. The most striking feature about him was the kanji for love on his forehead, Sakura thought. Or maybe his lack of eyebrows, she added. Her green irises twitched as she switched from feature to feature, and Sakura decided that with his raccoon-style rings, the entirety of Gaara's face was a bundle of foreign parts.

Fed up with the girl's prolonged silence and thorough appraisal, Gaara put on his most aggravated grimace and rumbled, "what do you even want? You're getting in my way." Sakura flinched at his tone, but refused to back down. This boy was going to be on the receiving end of one of her uplifting sweets, whether he liked it or not.

"Sabaku no Gaara!" Sakura began, feeling a bit dynamic calling him out like this on an open roof, wind blowing and all. Smiling like the maniac she was, the pinkette jutted a finger violently at Gaara's nose (which he restrained from _not _biting), and proclaimed her intention for the entire sky to hear, "I am here to make you happy! I am here..." Taking a swift breath to bend down and reach into her for the perfect baked good to match Gaara's face, Sakura cheerfully stuck the Great Panda out, "...to make you eat a cupcake!"

If the blank stare Gaara gave her didn't speak volumes, his actions did. Frustratedly—_this_ was what this crazy girl bothered him for—swiping at Sakura's hands, Gaara attempted to knock the panda-faced treat over the edge. Too bad for him Sakura was tuned with her goods on a spiritual level, and sensed this coming before he raised his coarse hands. Playfully, she brought the cupcake out of his reach, holding it behind her back as if Gaara was a small child.

"I don't think so! The point is to eat the thing, not throw it away. I didn't go through all the trouble of stalking you here and collecting data to have you waste my efforts!" Sakura stared down the delinquent, happy to be standing over him. If he was standing too, then she'd have to look up, and how threatening did a short pink haired girl seem then?

"Data?" the boy echoed back incredulously, eying the fellow psycho in a new light. "Stalking?" To Sakura, these things were not violations of personal space, but a means of achieving the greater good. She just had to rely on that the people she willingly invaded didn't mind.

Nodding, the baker expanded, "for example, I know for a fact no one here likes you. You skip out on class, so you don't care about partnering or making friends, and I don't see you anywhere _ever_, and I would definitely notice someone with the same hair color family as mine..." Flicking off her fingers to count, Sakura put two and two together. Gaara had no one to grieve to, complain to, laugh with, or simply _be_ with, and if she put it all into one simple feeling, she would describe it as...

"You are lonely!"

Silence drifted between the pair. Gaara almost cracked a less-than-sane grin, staring at how proud Sakura looked above him. Lonely? Him? THE Sabaku no Gaara, epitome of "go away" and "leave me be" even to his own siblings, _lonely?_ The notion almost made him laugh at the pinkette's face, but habitual anger took over his being before mirth could. Loneliness was something other people felt, not him—Gaara had no need for friendship or love. Who was this girl to come out of nowhere and accuse him of yearning for something so foolish? Roughly, he stood to face Sakura.

"It's okay, you know, to feel that way," spoke the girl opposite of him, as if she was reading his rage as discomfort. "When we first moved to Konoha, I felt that way, too. I didn't have any friends, either—" This girl obviously did not understand what to say and not to say in front of his face; which, now that he was visibly angered, was nothing. "—and, aren't you from Suna as an exchange student? We're a bit alike in that respect, huh?" And now she was sympathizing with him! He didn't _need_ sympathy, he was fine! "You know, if you want, I can be your friend, until you don't feel alone anymore." Then that cupcake was back in his face, for the second freaking time. Glancing from the black eyes of the panda (was she mocking him?) to her earnest green ones, Gaara felt a surge of raw emotion.

"What are you even _talking _about?" he yelled in her face, not stopping to examine her shocked face. At least it wasn't in that placating smile anymore. "I don't _need_ friends! I don't _care_ about people! What don't you understand?" He began to advance on her, backing her up to the roof's edge. Neither noticed how close they were to the unfenced section, too focused on Gaara's shouting. Sakura opened her mouth to retort, but the maddened boy was on a roll and didn't give her a chance. "No! I'm not going to listen to you! You listen to _me_," leaning in close, Gaara snarled with all his might and brought back his hand, "stop bothering me and go _AWAY!_" Furiously he slapped the black and white cupcake from Sakura's hand, sending it flying off to the side and mushing against an air vent.

This action flooded Gaara with relief, as if hitting the small, helpless panda was therapeutic for him. Immediately his body uncoiled and his anger left, Gaara's muscles relaxing at the sight of the carefully crafted gift sailing through the breeze. What he hadn't noticed was the force he really had used on Sakura, or how close they really were to the edge...

His alleviation lasted for a second, until he noticed Sakura similarly falling like the cupcake, right off the edge of the building, her eyes staring into his with a hurt emotion.

"SAKURA!"

O

O

O

Everything happened in a blur. First she was hit back, and then she was falling. It was surreal when her brain received the electric messages from her feet to relay the feeling of nothingness, and her skin to transmit the soft caress of the wind. Her arm reached out to grab at something that wasn't there. Her mind raced at a thousand miles a minute, piecing things in her mind of what was happening, the things she hadn't done yet, the people she still had to talk to, the cupcakes she still had to try out...

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sakura thought how silly it was that she was going to die from cupcakes, of all things.

Slowly going limp, Sakura watched Gaara as she descended in the air. At least she would be able to look at something pretty while she died. When she was ghost, she would definitely somehow communicate to Gaara he was very pretty, and if he tried to socialize more, he would manage to snag a really pretty girlfriend...

"SAKURA!" Oh, he knew her name? She vaguely wondered how he did, when she barely knew him... His arm reached out, desperately touching hers. At the contact, time resumed regular flow, Gaara's strong grip holding onto her wrist. His muscles burned from the adrenaline, and he used his feet to anchor a full body lift, tossing both him and Sakura on the floor in a heap. Breathing laboriously, from both the terror and Sakura's weight on top of him, Gaara glared at the stunned girl, but let up when he remembered _he_ was the one to push her.

"Sorry," he mumbled out looking off to the side. Sakura did not respond, and merely lay on top of his chest. Agitated from her lack of movement, Gaara began to wiggle himself out, when a quiet whisper caught his attention. "Huh?"

"My name," Sakura repeated, a little stronger, suddenly sitting up straight and her eyes filled with life. "How did you know it?" Something in those green orbs of hers screamed out to Gaara, and he hesitated to answer.

Shifting to lean back on his elbows, Gaara slowly mumbled, "you're in my class. I know everyone's names." At first he thought that he had replied incorrectly, but the cheek-tearing smile Sakura broke into silenced him. What was she thinking now?

"You know everyone's names," repeated Sakura, feeling giddy from nowhere. Maybe it was the backlash from the fall or that she finally understood, Sakura stood and gathered up her belongings with a delightful air around her. "And you saved me. You wouldn't do that if you didn't care."

Groaning, Gaara watched her free movements, disbelieving that the girl was still going on about that. "We just went through this, and I don't care, it's just that—"

"No," Sakura interrupted, looking over at her destroyed cupcake. A brief flash of mourning ghosted her face, though when she turned back to look at Gaara it was all smiles again. "I don't care if you say you don't care—I know that you do, and that's just good enough for me." Picking out the Green Tea flavor to match his eyes, Sakura presented it to Gaara, and placed it next to him on the ground. "Sabaku no Gaara, who claims all forms of relationships are meaningless," Sakura extended her hand, which Gaara took in a daze, "my name is Haruno Sakura, and I am now your new, first friend."

At a loss for words, Gaara watched as Sakura reclaimed her dainty appendage and left, her movements surprisingly lucid for a person who almost died. She gave him _another_ stunning smile before creaking open the door, careful to keep it silent, and walked out, her basket firmly tucked in her arm. Too tired to react accordingly, Gaara sighed and plopped on the ground, looking at the cupcake in search of answers. The silence now felt hollow, and, dare he say it, _lonely_.

Taking up the sweet, Gaara thought to himself, 'just what kind of monstrous person did I just meet?' and ate the dessert, his mind filled with thoughts of Sakura for the rest of the hour.

O

Lol, being alive is overrated. So is updating.

My first time writing somewhat canon Gaara. I... _think_ it works? Oh well. Anyway, just wanted to show you guys that not everyone Sakura forces herself onto is gonna make it easy for her—Gaara is just the start of her troubles.

By the way, I was totally considering turning that whole thing into a huge angst-fest, and completely ruining the mood of the story, even giving you all a little omake AU scene where they both die together in some tragic way.

But I'm not that horrible, so enjoy your update.

Let's toast to a NOT YEAR-LONG UPDATE SCHEDULE.

But yeah, I'm really sorry about not updating. I never realized just how much time has passed... I'm a horrible person for letting you guys hang like this, and feel free to stone me.

Thanks to my reviewers, who stand by me even though I treat them so horribly:

AnimaAmore

SilencexX

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-carsly-

Geniusly-Unique

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Vesper chan :D

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Shadow Quil

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